Tales from today's commute....

[wafter]

On the Railway Path home yesterday, saw up ahead what looked like a kid in a pedal car with his parent. As I rode past, I noted it looked like a mini-quad bike with an exhaust, I thought for 'effect'.

Nope

Twenty yards later I heard the guy start the engine. Soooo...letting a 5 year old child ride a petrol mini quad bike at rush hour on a busy cyclepath.....what could possibly go wrong?. A few years ago, I did come across two guys who brought a full-size quad bike onto the path.

Responsible parenting?. If you don't live on a farm or a country house with a massive garden, don't buy 'em for your kids. Public cyclepaths aren't test tracks.

Yeah, I've seen similar round my way - little kid on a little quad on the cycle path / meadow with scally parents proudly watching on; more concerningly I've also seen a raft of adolescent dickheads on full-on scramblers and essentially e-motorbikes ragging it around in the same area.

Thankfully not seen them recently however - despite the apparent total like of official concern round here for such things, perhaps dibble have actually done something... or those responsible have met with an unfortunate end as a result of their actions.


Last night: Miserable and tired leaving work; did the usual waft with mostly fruitless trips to the shops and a frustrating session on the rings ruined by the proximity of some very loud, arrogant, generally obnoxious kids on the swings.. what made it even worse was that upon finishing the dangle and moving to the usual "stretch spot" in the corner of the park the little w*nkers followed me (seemingly not intentionally to irritate me; just as a continuation of their inconsiderate behaviour) so I just got on the bike and f*cked off.

Still unfeasibly miserable I resolved to ride until I felt better; which seemed to be working until yet another unpleasant interaction with a dosy, hypocritical dickhead driver which sent me right down the hole again. Things did perk up a bit towards the end thanks to seeing a little flock of fluffy fledgeling robins on the tow path, as well as a bloke doing god's work with a pair of shears on the cycle path - can't say as I wholly approved of his murderously-hacky approach to the trimming however.


This morning was bright, fresh and clear; out on the Fuji for a change to avoid antagonising the saddle sore resulting from 32 miles on the Brompton yesterday. Usual contrasts - appreciating the smooth, clean, comfortable ride if not the lesser feeling of control from having no immediate access to the brakes and gears when riding on the tops.

Snuck it into as-usual-nearly-deserted the covered market but stopped short of taking it into the butchers so propped it up outside and kept a close eye on it whilst inside acquiring a particularly pleasant pair of sausages

 

[HLaB]

A bit of a doh moment this evening. Someone stuck a pointless meeting in my diary for last thing. The organiser was WfH and wouldn't worry but I was in the office, so I was late leaving. I got out to a soft tyre. So I pumped it up with the track pump workstation that came from the old office. The doh moment came a minute later when I realised the pump handle hadn't been re connected to the hose after the move and all I had succeeded in doing was unseating my tyre. Before wasting CO2 cannister I tried my mini pump. Amazingly with some rapid pumps it seated and I was on my way and I managed to catch the train that I was going for.

 

[markharry66]

Antoher quiet trip in no one on the road hardly nice sunny start feels like a warm day a head last day cycling as usual Friday work got in the way of cycling. Only managed one full week cycling in this year. Roll on nice sweat bath ride home in 30 plus.

 

[cyberknight]

Knee still niggly when i get out of the saddle but at least im riding atm , if it hasnt calmed down fully soon i shall be back to the the gp.

 

[wafter]

A lovely, relatively swift ride in this morning on the Fuji again after leaving a bit late. Despite the shortcomings of its handlebar arrangement in this enviroment it currently remains preferable to the Brompton; whose upright position and less forgiving ride continue to punish my high-mileage arse.

I think I'm going to look to switch to the Fuji full time (until I sort a more urban-appropriate replacement) as this would bring a number of advantages including easing the logistics of moving the bikes around inside the flat if I'm only using one regularly. In which case the Brompton would be rendered largely redundant, so can be cleaned and tucked away somewhere pending the cycling-centric city breaks I'll probably never do..

 

[ianrauk]

Nearly come to blows with an illegal e-bike rider this morning which made for a pleasant commute in. In short, he cut me up at the lights twice. The second time I said what the fek.. he blew up instantly, calling me every name under the sun including the C word.. Of course he got back what he was giving me and more. Effing dick head.
I've had more problems with shoot e-bike riders over the last couple of years then I have had with car drivers over many, many years, it's insane and they are out of control. The sooner hooky e-bikes are banned outright, the better. But we all know that's unenforceable.

 

[captain nemo1701]

Nearly come to blows with an illegal e-bike rider this morning which made for a pleasant commute in. In short, he cut me up at the lights twice. The second time I said what the fek.. he blew up instantly, calling me every name under the sun including the C word.. Of course he got back what he was giving me and more. Effing dick head.
I've had more problems with shoot e-bike riders over the last couple of years then I have had with car drivers over many, many years, it's insane and they are out of control. The sooner hooky e-bikes are banned outright, the better. But we all know that's unenforceable.

Saw local ebike 'yoof' in their ninja masks come bombing down the Railway Path here at warp factor ten last night on the way home.
I so want to see 'em getting busted in public. I'd stop & laugh. Overclocked ebikes are a bl**dy nuisance, I agree. Too fast & ridden by moronic A-holes who think they're on a race track. One eejit even tried undertaking me once on the inside at speed....he ended up skidding along the verge, swerving back behind me as a tree came up really quickly!.

 

[straas]

I absolutely despise the delivery riders on e bikes, undertake you at red lights nearly taking you out only to slow to a crawl 30 seconds later and eventually just stop in the middle of a bike lane to read their mobile.

Go to overtake when they're doing 10mph just to have them accelerate to 30 and pull right at 90 degrees without looking.

Have had choice words with a few of them, get bemused looks in return.

 

[katiewlx]

today seemed very fraught, not sure why, traffic levels werent much different than normal, I was just fending off so many vehicles whose drivers seemed to want to get uncomfortably close, one even made me flinch so it was pretty close, or they were just doing stupid things.

like there was a van blocking my side of the road, and a car coming the other way, so slowed down so that I was moving still but not having to stop & unclip, and the driver behind me decided to overtake, then had to emergency stop infront of me, because oh yes that car coming towards us. another one divebombed me through a roundabout, only to turn at the next right turn.

way home wasnt much better, I had some slow meandering cyclists to deal with, basically just weaving left to right all the time, which doesnt half make it hard to pick a safe point to overtake, at one point one of them veered so far right they got to the middle of the road and I actually thought they were heading to join the cycle path on the right hand side of the road when without warning or signalling they veered suddenly left down a side road instead, they were just I dont know trying to create an angle to the turn or some crazy thing.

then to cap it off just as I got near home Id taken prime to avoid any more surprises for the day as there was lots of queuing traffic about, still had a learner driver and another cyclist pull out in front of me as I approached the exit of a roundabout, so I just went touch wider to pass the cyclist to give them some room, and kept there to avoid some drain covers too, when a driver in a flatbed truck on the opposite side of the road queuing going completely the opposite direction to me, leant out the window and swore at me for riding too far across the road holding up traffic, 5 secs later I catch up with the learner driver again.

apart from that the ride was great I think had tailwinds both ways for a change, must have done coming home as I set a really good time and felt I could push all the way which isnt often the case I find.

looking forward to tomorrow, perhaps.

 

[Andy in Germany]

I absolutely despise the delivery riders on e bikes, undertake you at red lights nearly taking you out only to slow to a crawl 30 seconds later and eventually just stop in the middle of a bike lane to read their mobile.

Go to overtake when they're doing 10mph just to have them accelerate to 30 and pull right at 90 degrees without looking.

Have had choice words with a few of them, get bemused looks in return.

They're stuck in a cr*ppy job with no future and possibly less than minimum wage in all weathers, and treated like dirt by their customers who expect everything to be delivered, like, now, or I'll call your boss and get you fired et c...

I agree that's no excuse for breaking road laws, but I see motorists do the same sort of nonsense with much less excuse.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Approaching Rottenburg yesterday evening.

 

[markharry66]

View attachment 779591

Approaching Rottenburg yesterday evening.

simply stunning

 

[markharry66]

Nice warm start, p*ssed off not cycling in tomorrow as wont be cycling this weekend (not by choice). Looking foward to a 99 ice cream on the beach sunday . No trafffic, slightly earlier start seems to be avoding cock wombles and co. Looking forward to trip home and end to very quiet communting week. Long may it continue.

 

[biking_fox]

Already really warm. I like to take the SS out on dry roads, but it does need more effort than cruising at low gear, so perhaps should have reconsidered my choice.

 

[straas]

Bit more of a directive to be in the office at the moment, so using it as an excuse for a few commutes in.

Lots of benefits to WFH, but a big negative has been my huge drop in fitness. Young kids mean weekend or evening rides are difficult and involve planning and negotiations so the commutes were a lifeline for me before covid. I've risen from around 78kg to 95kg+ in the last few years .

Hopefully a few commutes a week will start to reverse the process!